Former Employee of CIA and FBI Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy, Unauthorized Computer Access and Naturalization Fraud

DETROIT – Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old Lebanese national and resident of
Vienna, Va., pleaded guilty today in the Eastern District of Michigan to charges
of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship, which she later used to gain
employment at the FBI and CIA; accessing a federal computer system to unlawfully
query information about her relatives and the terrorist organization Hizballah;
and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The announcement was made today by Stephen J. Murphy, U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Michigan; Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General
for National Security; Willie T. Hulon, Executive Assistant Director of the
FBI’s National Security Branch; Brian M. Moskowitz, Special Agent in Charge of
the Detroit Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and Kurt
Rice, Chicago Field Office Special Agent in Charge for the U.S.
State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service.

At a hearing in Detroit before the U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn, Prouty
entered a plea of guilty to counts one, two and three of a second superseding
information. Count one of the information charges conspiracy, for which the
maximum penalty is five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Count two
charges unauthorized computer access, for which the maximum penalty is one year
imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. Count three charges naturalization fraud, for
which the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, and
requires the court to de-naturalize the defendant.

“This case highlights the importance of conducting stringent and thorough
background investigations,” said U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy. “It’s hard to
imagine a greater threat than the situation where a foreign national uses fraud
to attain citizenship and then, based on that fraud insinuates herself into a
sensitive position in the U.S. government. I applaud the excellent investigative
work of the FBI, ICE and DHS, which led to the successful prosecution today.”

“It is a sad day when one of our public servants breaches our security and
trust,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein. “This defendant
engaged in a pattern of deceit to secure U.S. citizenship, to gain employment in
the intelligence community, and to obtain and exploit her access to sensitive
counterterrorism intelligence. It is fitting that she now stands to lose both
her citizenship and her liberty.”

“We became aware of this compromise in December 2005 and moved to address any
further damage,”said Willie T. Hulon, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s
National Security Branch. “The FBI worked closely with other agencies to
investigate this matter. We continue to evaluate our security practices and will
make any necessary changes.”

“Nada Proudy’s guilty plea should serve as a solemn warning to those who say
they’ve pledged their allegiance to the United States and then make the
conscious decision to place America’s interests at risk,” said Brian M.
Moskowitz, Special Agent in Charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in
Detroit. “Becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen is an honor and a privilege. ICE
will do everything in its power to see that those who achieve this honor by
fraud and deception are brought to justice.”

Naturalization Fraud

According to documents filed in court by the government, Prouty first entered
the United States from Lebanon on June 24, 1989, on a one-year, non-immigrant
student visa. After her visa expired, she remained in the country, residing in
Taylor, Mich., with her sister, Elfat El Aouar, and an individual named Samar
Khalil Nabbouth. In order to remain in the United States and evade U.S.
immigration laws, Prouty later offered money to an unemployed U.S. citizen to
marry her. On August 9, 1990, Prouty married the U.S. citizen. As planned,
Prouty never lived with her fraudulent “husband,” but continued to live with her
sister and Nabbouth.

Prouty later submitted a series of false, fraudulent and forged documents and
letters to federal immigration officials to verify the validity of the
fraudulent marriage in order to obtain permanent residency status, and, later,
U.S. citizenship, thereby committing naturalization fraud. On Aug. 5, 1994, the
former Immigration and Naturalization Service granted Prouty U.S. citizenship
under the name “Nada Nadim Deladurantaye.” The following year, she filed for a
divorce from her fraudulent husband, and later obtained a U.S. passport, which
she used to travel overseas.

Talal Khalil Chahine

According to court documents, from May 1992 through April 1993, and again, from
August through November 1994, Prouty was employed as a waitress and hostess at
La Shish Inc., a chain of Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit that was owned
by Talal Khalil Chahine. During this time, Chahine wrote a letter for submission
into Prouty’s immigration file attesting to the validity of Prouty’s false
marriage.

Chahine is currently a fugitive believed to be in Lebanon. He, along with
Prouty’s sister, Elfat El Aouar, and others were charged in 2006 in the Eastern
District of Michigan with tax evasion in connection with a scheme to conceal
more than $20 million in cash received by La Shish restaurants and to route
funds to persons in Lebanon. Last month, Chahine was also charged in the Eastern
District of Michigan, along with a senior ICE official in Detroit and others in
a bribery and extortion conspiracy in which federal immigration benefits were
allegedly awarded to illegal aliens in exchange for money.

Employment at FBI and CIA

In April 1999, through a series of false representations and use of her
fraudulently procured proof of U.S. citizenship, Prouty, then known as “Nada
Nadim Alley,” obtained employment as a special agent of the FBI. It was a
prerequisite to FBI employment that she be a U.S. citizen. As a special agent
with the FBI, Prouty was granted a security clearance and assigned to the FBI’s
Washington Field Office to work on an extraterritorial squad investigating
crimes against U.S. persons overseas. During her tenure with the FBI, Prouty was
not assigned to work on investigations involving the international terrorist
group Hizballah.

In August 2000, Prouty’s sister, Elfat El Aouar, entered into a marriage with
Talal Khalil Chahine, the owner of La Shish Inc. In September 2000, Prouty,
while employed as an FBI special agent, used the FBI’s computerized Automated
Case System (ACS), without authorization, to query her own name, her sister’s
name, and that of her brother-in-law, Talal Khalil Chahine. In addition, on or
about June 4, 2003, Prouty accessed the FBI’s ACS and obtained information from
a national security investigation into Hizballah that was being conducted by the
FBI’s Detroit Field Office.

According to court documents, in August 2002, Prouty’s sister, Elfat El Aouar,
and her brother-in-law, Talal Khalil Chahine, attended a fundraising event in
Lebanon where the keynote speakers were Chahine himself and Sheikh Muhammad
Hussein Fadlallah. Sheikh Fadlallah had previously been designated by the U.S.
government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist based upon his status as a
leading ideological figure with Hizballah.

In June 2003, through a series of false representations and use of her
fraudulently procured proof of U.S. citizenship, Prouty, then known as “Nada
Nadim Prouty,” voluntarily left her position with the FBI and obtained
employment with the CIA. It was also a prerequisite to CIA employment that she
be a U.S. citizen.

On Nov. 6, 2007, Prouty resigned her position at the CIA. Pursuant to the terms
of her plea agreement, she has agreed to fully and truthfully cooperate with the
CIA on any matters the CIA deems necessary to transition Prouty out of its
employment in a manner consistent with safeguarding the national security of the
United States. This cooperation includes participation in debriefing and
polygraph interviews.

The ongoing investigation into this matter is being conducted by the FBI and
ICE, with assistance from the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security
Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.

The case is being prosecuted by Eric M. Straus, Chief of the National Security
Unit, and Kenneth R. Chadwell, Assistant U.S. Attorney, from the U.S. Attorney’s
office for the Eastern District of Michigan, as well as Mark J. Jebson, Special
Assistant U.S. Attorney and Senior Assistant Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement.